Love Burns

Why would Chinonye and Chinansa suffer the fate of another? They
were born identical twins; they loved each other growing up,
always there for one another. Their mother was ever proud of them
though she was faced with the responsibility of taking care of
them all by herself. Howbeit hatred crept in unnoticed and
enslaved Cninonye, she became a victim of evil spell thus was
possess by an evil spirit.
How did this come to be? Obi their father was a charming young
man who was a lady delight any day in his early age. He had a
strong dress sense of that era; he told stories, sang and made
people laugh. He was ahead of his pairs in the way he carried
himself and his vast knowledge of history and contemporary
issues. He had a style, he would comb his afro hair and path it,
and this was his signature. He stood out from the crowd anytime.
Ngozi secretly loved Obi so much but Obi was madly in love with
Oluchi. Oluchi and Ngozi were friends but never discussed their
emotional feelings because in those days’ emotional feelings
coming from a young girl or a woman was never expressed, so Obi
was oblivious of Ngozi’s love for him but he made every effort to
express his love to Oluchi for that was the acceptable practice.
When the time came for Obi to marry, he eventually married Oluchi
thus Ngozi was heartbroken and she decided to inflict harm on Obi
that would live a scar for a very long time to come. She sent an
evil spirit to take Obi’s life and to possess Obi’s children.
Dozie was a medical doctor who was not doing badly for himself.
He was a conscientious professional with a strong passion for
humanity hence his care for his patient, yet he himself needed to
be loved. He found himself amongst Chinonye and Chinansa, they
became friends but he was in love with Chinansa and ironically
Chinonye was in love with him unknowingly to him. Chinansa
couldn’t hide her admiration and love for Dozie. Every time she
told Chinonye about her time with Dozie, Chinonye was always
indifferent, this act went on for a while without Chinansa
noticing until it began to take a different dimension when
Chinansa told Chinionye of Dozie proposal to her.
Chinansa had come back from work that very day looking tired and
hungry; she wanted something to eat badly, just when she thought
of entering the kitchen to cook, her phone rang and it was Dozie
that was asking her out for dinner, he meant to make it a
surprise. After a light argument with him over the phone she
decided to get freshened up and go out for the dinner. Chinansa
dressed up looking simple but beautiful in the dinner gown,
Chinonye was in the kitchen cooking. Out of excitement Chinansa
rushed into the kitchen to tell Chinonye that she was leaving but
that was not to be. Chinonye asked her to take off the dress
because she thought it was her dress and didn’t want Chinanasa to
go on her ‘stupid’ dinner in her dress thus there was an argument
and it led to a fight. Chinonye stabbed Chinansa with the kitchen
knife and killed her. Chinonye covered up the body; she dressed
up and went to meet with Dozie for the dinner. Because the twin
sisters were so identical that one could hardly notice the
difference Dozie was caught in the web. They spent the time
eating and talking about their beautiful future. They ended the
night with a kiss and Dozie dropped Chinonye off at home. He
spent couple of minutes in the house and then left.
Oluchi left the village to town to visit her children. She was
surprised; having stayed for a while and she did not see
Chinansa. Chinonye had lied to her that Chinansa travelled on a
short trip; little did Chinonye know that Oluchi was going to be
staying for a while. After some few days Oluchi began to perceive
an unpleasant smell in the house, she inquired of Chinonye who
eventually unveil the corpse of Chinansa. Oluchi was devastated,
there was panick and apprehension. She was angry at whatever must
have led to the fracas, she hated Chinonye for what she had done
yet she loved her so much that she wouldn’t give her away, thus
she joined in the conspiracy and they buried Chinansa and
decided to keep it secret between them.
Dozie eventually married whom he thought was his heartthrob; he
married Chinonye and felt much fulfilled. But something was
constantly wrong in the house, Chinonye was always having
nightmare. Two spirits were constantly at work around the house.
While from time to time she got possessed with an evil spirit,
Chinansa spirit was always hovering around the house and these
activities always cause chaos in the house and leave Chinonye in
a tumoil of torments. Chinansa spirit had one goal; that Chinonye
should confess to her evil deed but the evil spirit’s desire was
to torment her with the act of doing strange and unpleasant
things.
Dozie noticed that his wife was acting very weird and strange; he
decided to check her into the hospital so that his colleague can
examine her. She was examined and found very healthy and perfect.
But he could not understand why the strange behavior and fear
most times. He hired a Psychiatrist yet nothing was observed to
be wrong with her thus he rescind to fate. But from time to time
she suffered the torment from the evil spirit and fear from the
Spirit of Chinansa. One day Dozie and Chinonye were taking a walk
and at the same time a neighbor of theirs was taking a walk with
his dog. The dog constantly barked at Chinonye embarrassingly
that Dozie felt so awkward, even the neighbor felt the
embarrasement and realized that something was not right with
Chinonye. His experience with dogs told him that whatever the
reason why his dog would bark like that was worth addressing.
The neighbor decided to visit Dozie while Chinonye was away from
the house, he told Dozie about his experience and suspicion,
Dozie could reason with him but did not show it for everything
the neighbor told him were the same things he noticed in his
wife. So the neighbor suggested to Dozie that they need to seek
spiritual solution and that should Dozie found it expedient, he
could be of help.
Chinonye had gone through another round of torment, the pastor
had been invited, he came and saw the situation and offered to
pray; chinonye began to manifest as the prayer was going on, the
evil spirit was cast out of her and she became well momentarily
but not without the fear that constantly grip her by the
activities of Chinansa’s spirit.
After a while of what appeared to be peace with Chinonye, the
evil spirit had gone to possess a young man in their
neighborhood. One day the young man came to visit Dozie and he
found it strange because he had never interacted with him before.
And as soon as the young man saw Chinonye, the evil spirit
manifested and pounced on Chinonye, this resulted in a scuffle,
the spirit left the young man and possessed Chinonye again and
she began to say strange things, confessing that she killed
Chinansa and became very violent, then she made move to want to
attack Dozie, she slipped and fell and was rushed to the
hospital.
Dozie had called Oluchi who came and was in the hospital together
with Chinonye and Dozie. She was being resuscitated as she laid
on the bed. All kinds of gadgets were connected to her body to
bring life back to her. Oluchi was weeping like a little child as
she remembered how she, her husband and two lovely daughters
lived when they were very young, the love they shared and the
happiness that enveloped their world. She remembered how Obi her
husband died and the last dreadful thing that happened, how she
helped Chinonye to bury her twin sisiter Chinansa and now
Chinonye was about to die. She cried profusely, Chinansa spirit
looked at her with pity and Chinonye with mixed feelings. The
spirit caused a scare in the room that woke Chinonye from her
state then the spirit leaves.
Meanwhile back in the village Ngozi was seen suffering in pain
with a disfigured facial appearance marred with sore that brings
out worms. It was a disgusting sight, once she was in the public
she tried as much as she could to cover it. She needed to make
restitution and receive forgiveness for her atrocities. She
remembered everything she did in the past, but didn’t know why
and how the whole things boomerang. She was given a very small
calabash with a cover that contained the spell. The instruction
was that the calabash must not be opened and that the day it will
be opened that will be the day the spell will fade on its victim
and it will return to hunt the one who cast it. Ngozi had tucked
the calabash away tightly and nicely so she thought, but a rat
rattled the environment and the calabash was opened thus the
effect.
Now she had to look for Oluchi to seek forgiveness from her and
her family, she looked for Oluchi’s house and found it but she
was out of town, no one knew where she had gone. She had to see
Oluchi otherwise she would suffer untold humiliation and died. At
the same time Oluchi had to confess her complicity in the death
of her daughter Chinansa and to try to settle Dozie and Chinonye
whose marriage was at the brink of collapse. They all moved to
the village to have these whole issues resolved.
Will Ngozi find forgiveness, will Dozie continue with the
relationship with Chinonye having discovered the truth and will
he forgive Oluchi. Chinonye was three months pregnant will the
child have a father? All these questions will have to be answered
as the story unfolds in love burns.
THE END
CREDIT ROLL
STORY BY: EDITHA ODINAKA AND ANTHONY TORITSE DUDU
SCREENPLAY BY: ANTHONY TORITSEJU DUDU
Copyright © Anthony Toritseju Dudu 2019.